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User blog:MainLineEngine112/Sir Topham Hatt Generations: Crazy Conspiracy Time!
Before we begin, I'm going to let you know that this theory has little to nothing to do with EE93's series, and is more just a theory on the TV Series. I'm only writing it here because there aren't any blogs on the TTTE Wiki, and now that I've thought of it, I really want to share this theory. I originally wrote this on the Thomas Wiki Forums. When does the TV Series take place? This has been debated by just about everyone. I think the majority of fan series depict it as taking place in modern times, but I personally believe it's a bit further in the past. However, there's a lot of things that don't add up, no matter what side you look at it. I've gone very deep into this subject, and made a complete timeline in order to keep consistency for my soon-to-be series, Sudrian Articles. Of course, some things on that timeline aren't exactly what they would be in the TV Series, because I altered them a little (a lot), but essentially, I came to the conclusion that The Great Race should realistically be taking place in the eighties. I know the current series can't take place in modern times. It has to be earlier than 1997, as the Reverend appears in Lost Treasure and The Great Race, and as of March 21st, 1997, he is no longer with us (God bless his genius soul. R.I.P.). When I laid out when the characters from Season 5 onwards realistically could have arrived, it added up that the current seasons would span to about 1984. Of course, I had to ignore some previously "confirmed" dates, like TGD being in 1955, and MIR being in 1960. These can't be true, for two big reasons. Reason 1: Emily. We know she wasn't on Sodor until at least 1967, because she rescued Oliver on her first day. Reason 2: Salty. He wasn't even built until 1962, so he couldn't have been in either movie. This is where things get more complicated. There is a certain fault in my timeline: Sir Bertram Topham Hatt. As we know, all throughout the TV Series, the Sir Topham Hatt we see is still the same person as the Railway Series' Sir Charles Topham Hatt I, because Sir Bertram Topham Hatt is still shown to be the grandfather of Stephen and Bridget. Sir Charles I was born in 1915, and died in '56, but if he had lived to the eighties, he would be in his seventies, if you do the math. That's not impossible, and Sir Stephen, the current Fat Controller, is in his seventies in modern times. But there's still a lot that doesn't make sense about Sir Topham Hatt here. He definitely doesn't look like he's seventy, and Lady Hatt DEFINITELY doesn't look seventy. Then there's Dowager Hatt. How old is she? If Sir Bertram Topham Hatt is in his seventies, then Dowager Hatt should have to be around ninety! She should be bed-ridden! How did that moving dinosaur not stop her frail heart? Should she really be around a bunch of steam engines? Her poor lungs! Then there's Stephen and Bridget. Why don't we ever see Sir Bertram Topham Hatt's children/Stephen and Bridget's parents? Based on the Railway Series, we can assume Sir Bertram Topham Hatt's son would be (at least the equivalent of) Sir Charles Topham Hatt II (though, technically, he'd be the first, if his father is Bertram). Yet, why don't we see them? And why haven't Stephen and Bridget aged since we saw them in Toby and the Stout Gentleman, which, for the record, is in the early fifties, and if we're going with the eighties as the current time, they should not still be little children. If anything, they've seemed to age in reverse. Stephen seemed to be about twelve or something in Season 1. Nowadays, he seems like he's eight. But how could that be, unless... ...Unless... Maybe the Sir Topham Hatt we saw in the earlier seasons was actually Sir Charles Topham Hatt, and eventually passed away, presumably around 1956, and Sir Bertram Topham Hatt is actually the equivalent of Sir Charles II. We don't know exactly when Sir Charles II was born, but if that were the case, Sir Bertram would be closer to fifty, which makes sense. Of course, then Stephen and Bridget would be his children, not his grandchildren, and still should have aged, ''and ''wouldn't be the current Sir Bertram Topham Hatt's grandchildren, but rather just his children, but here's my theory: Stephen Hatt, as seen in the Season 1, is the father of the current series' Stephen and Bridget Hatt. Thusly, in essence, modern day Stephen and Bridget would replace Richard, Charles, and Emily Hatt. That way, Sir Charles Topham Hatt, as seen in the earlier seasons, would be classic Stephen and Bridget's grandfather, and Sir Bertram Topham Hatt would be classic Stephen and Bridget's father, and would still be modern Stephen's grandfather. This would explain why modern Stephen and Bridget seem to be younger than they should be, and why modern Bridget looks to be older than modern Stephen, when classic Stephen should be two years older. This could also explain some things with Dowager Hatt and Lady Hatt. Lady Hatt looked a lot different in Season 1. That's because the Lady Hatt we saw then is actually what we currently know as Dowager Hatt. That's also why Lady Hatt doesn't look to be that old. She's probably in her forties, fifty at the very oldest, while Dowager Hatt is probably in her seventies. That makes a lot more sense, doesn't it? Plus, think of this: If we're saying The Great Race takes place in around 1984, guess what else takes place around that time? In the Railway Series, it would be around this time that Sir Charles Topham Hatt II would retire, and Sir Stephen Topham Hatt would take over as the Fat Controller. Thusly, it makes perfect sense for the Sir Topham Hatt we've seen since about Season 2 or 3 to be Sir Topham Hatt II, who served from '56 to '84. I highly doubt the TV Series would actually showed Sir Bertram's retirement, and brought in Sir Topham Hatt III, but if they did, at least we'd have a solid date to say the series takes place! Either way, Sir Bertram Topham Hatt, being at most fifty, should have at least fifteen more years in him before he physically can't keep working as the Fat Controller! So here's the Hatt family tree according to this theory. Generation 1: Sir Charles Topham Hatt - Dowager Jane Hatt Generation 2: Sir Bertram Topham Hatt - Lady Amanda Hatt Sir Lowham Hatt Generation 3: Stephen Topham Hatt I - Helen Margaret Hatt Bridget Hatt I Generation 4: Stephen Topham Hatt II Bridget Hatt II I'd also say, on a side note, just to clear some things up for the heck of it, that in TV Series canon, Sir Topham Hatt probably hired Mr. Percival to run both the Skarloey Railway and Culdee Fell Railway in the late sixties or early seventies. The way I see it, in the TV Series, Sir Topham Hatt is the equivialent to "The Owner," Sir Handel Brown, and of course Mr. Percival is the Thin Controller. Of course, then who would Sir Handel and Peter Sam be named after? I dunno. Someone. :/ The reason I say Mr. Percival also runs the Culdee Fell Railway is because that was actually stated in a bonus feature on Blue Mountain Mystery. I'd also assume, unless Brenner brings the Small Controller into the mix, that Sir Topham Hatt and/or Mr. Percival runs the Arlesdale Railway. Is this too off-topic? I'm kind of excited about this theory. Have I missed anything? Any glaring plotholes I've overlooked? Let me know what you think! EDIT: I realized I made a slight error. Turns out, Sir Charles Topham Hatt I was actually born in 1880, and Sir Charles Topham Hatt II (Sir Bertram Topham Hatt) was born in 1914, which would mean he was exactly seventy at the time of his retirement in 1984. I still stand by my theory that Sir Bertram is Sir Charles II, as I suppose it's certainly not impossible for the current Fat Controller to be about seventy, but this would mean that Lady Hatt and Dowager Hatt would both be quite a bit older than I'd thought. I guess it's not that far off to assume that Dowager Hatt was a lot younger than Sir Charles Hatt I, as we never received a confirmed date of birth for Jane Hatt. Sir Charles Topham Hatt was about 34 when Sir Charles II/Sir Bertram was born, and he married Dowager Hatt in 1910, when he was 30, so I guess Dowager Hatt could have been around twenty, maybe even just a little younger? Keep in mind this was in the early nineties, so it's not THAT weird. This would mean that she would have had to be born no later than the early 1890s, and thusly, she'd still be in her mid to late eighties, but I suppose that's fair enough. My grandmother is in her mid-eighties, and she is still able to do a lot of things. As for Lady Amanda Hatt (nee Croarie), Sir Charles II/Sir Bertram married her in 1940, when he was about twenty-six. If we say she was somewhere around twenty, then she would be in her mid-sixties in the current TV Series. I guess in theory, she could have gotten married when she was around sixteen or something, meaning she could be as young as sixty. Sure, she doesn't look sixty, but I guess she just aged well. I guess the Hatt family really likes younger women. Well, other than that oversight, everything else still adds up, so with that resolved, I rest my case. Now time to tackle the Norramby family... another time. Category:Blog posts